John Carpenter's 'Halloween' Returning To Theaters Just In Time For Halloween

By
Kevin Jagernauth
|
The PlaylistOctober 24, 2012 at 10:27AM

Sequelized, remade and rebooted over the years, it speaks to the power of John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic "Halloween" that it still tops all of its subsequent iterations. At thirty-four years old, the film still remains a thrill, but if you haven't seen it or want a rare chance to see it on the big screen with an excited crowd, now's your chance.

Sequelized, remade and rebooted over the years, it speaks to the power of John Carpenter's 1978 horror classic "Halloween" that it still tops all of its subsequent iterations. At thirty-four years old, the film still remains a thrill, but if you haven't seen it or want a rare chance to see it on the big screen with an excited crowd, now's your chance.

Trancas International Films, Compass International Pictures and Screenvision are bringing the movie back to over five hundred cinemas across the country this week, in a limited engagement. “A majority of the people who are [fans of the franchise], most of them have never seen any of these movies in the theater,” Trancas vice-president of licensing and new media Justin Beahm told Hero Complex. “A lot of the originals, especially for people who don’t live in major cities with revival houses, they’ve never had a chance to experience them at all in the theater before. This is a nice way to reintroduce fans — reintroduce the world, in a way — to Michael Myers as the Shape.”

To bring you up to speed in case you have no idea what the movie is all about, the film tells the story of psychotic murderer who escapes the institution he's being kept in, to return to the scene of town where he brutally murdered his sister years before. His new target is Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who has to try and stay alive while The Shape's (he wasn't yet known as Michael Myers) doctor tries to track him down. It's effective slasher stuff that essentially set up a template for a generation to follow.

But perhaps the biggest treat (movie aside) for fans of the film will be a new 10-minute mini-documentary, "You Can't Kill The Boogeyman," which will screen in front of the movie, giving an overview of the history and impact of Carpenter's classic. Narrated by Andrew Divoff, the short will include interviews with a wide array of folks including Del Howison of Dark Delicacies, actors Tyler Mane (Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” movies) and George Wilbur (“Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers,” “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers”), and psychologist Dr. David Tolin, the founder and director of the Anxiety Disorders Center at the Institute of Living and an adjunct associate professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.

While the formula was simple -- escaped killer stalks and kills -- Michael Myers has endured as one of the most iconic screen terrors of all time, largely because the enigma behind the mask continues to chill to the core. “There was a commercial for Burger King a few years ago where Freddy was going through the drive thru,” Beahm said, adding: "Michael exists in the shadows in our own homes. He’s in the closet. That never goes away, that’s always going to be relevant to people and there’s a real timelessness to it.”

Screenings start on October 25th. You can go here to see participating theaters and buy tickets.